Questions about buying and financing used tractors and farm machinery

Most use hire purchase or a lease arranged through a broker, the dealer or their bank. Hire purchase is the most common for used tractors: you pay a deposit, often the VAT, then fixed instalments, and the tractor is yours after the last one. A broker can compare several agricultural lenders at once, which matters because each one weighs farm accounts differently.

Yes. Agricultural lenders on our panel offer seasonal and annual repayment profiles, so a larger payment can fall after harvest, a lamb sale or when the milk cheque is strongest, with smaller payments in the lean months. Tell us when your money comes in and we will shape the agreement around it.

Yes. Livery yards, contractors, groundworkers, estates, golf clubs and landscapers all finance tractors with us. The proposal needs to explain the real business and how the tractor earns its keep, rather than assume an agricultural lender will understand non farm accounts. Our livery yard case below shows how that works.

For most farms and contractors a two to five year old tractor is the sweet spot: the steepest drop in value has already happened, but it still has modern transmission and emissions systems and plenty of life left. New makes sense when you want a long warranty, need a specific spec or can use manufacturer finance offers. Older tractors are cheap to buy and simple to fix, and lenders on our panel fund them too.

Manufacturer finance arms sometimes offer low or 0% rates on new tractors from their own dealers, usually for a limited time and with a larger deposit. Those offers rarely apply to used machines or to tractors bought at auction or privately. For used kit a broker searching several lenders will normally find the better overall deal.

Start it from cold and watch for smoke and listen for knocks. Run it through every gear and range, check the clutch and shuttle, and work the three point linkage, PTO and spool valves under load. Look at the front axle and steering for play, the tyres, and for oil weeping from the transmission. Compare the hour meter with the service history and run a finance check so you know nothing is still owed.

It depends on the tractor more than the number. A well maintained mainstream tractor often runs past 10,000 hours, while one that has done hard road haulage at 6,000 can be more worn. Ask how it was used, check the service history, and budget for a clutch or transmission repair on high hour machines. Lenders fund high hour tractors too, though the term may be shorter.

John Deere, Massey Ferguson, New Holland, Case IH, Fendt, Claas and Kubota all have strong dealer networks and good resale values, which also makes them the easiest to fund. The best one for you comes down to the horsepower you need, the dealer you trust for service and the transmission you prefer. Pick the size for the job first, then the make.

Farmers, horticulture, forestry and fish farming can still use red diesel in tractors and agricultural machinery for those purposes. Most other businesses, including construction and groundworks, lost the right to use it in 2022 and must run on white diesel. If you are not sure which side your work falls on, check with HMRC before filling up.

Grant schemes for farm equipment open and close in rounds, so check the current DEFRA and Rural Payments Agency pages, or the devolved schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Grants usually pay out after you have bought the machine, so finance is often needed to buy it first. The two can work together.

Yes. Combines, foragers, balers, mowers, drills, cultivators, sprayers and trailers are all funded the same way as a tractor. Several items can go on one agreement with one monthly payment, which helps when a whole cultivation train is replaced at once. Seasonal payments work well here, because the machine earns at the same time of year the payment falls.

Yes. Golf clubs and sports grounds finance greens, tees and fairway mowers, compact tractors and utility vehicles with us, new and used. Clubs often want the deposit and term set around membership income, and an old machine can go in part exchange. Two golf club cases below show how that was done.

A pivot steer or yard loader is compact, nimble and cheaper to run, which suits cleaning out, feeding and moving bales in tight buildings. A telehandler reaches higher and stacks further but is bigger and dearer. Many livestock farms run a small loader for daily work and borrow or hire a telehandler for stacking. You can find telehandlers on Plant Monthly.

Terms from 12 to 120 months are possible, though most used tractors run over three to five years. Lenders match the term to the age and expected life of the tractor, and a balloon can lower the regular payments if you plan to change it before the end.

Every listing shows an illustrative monthly payment on business hire purchase over 48 months, with the VAT paid as the deposit. Your actual rate depends on your business, the machine and the lender.

Every listing is checked against the dealer's own website every night. Machines come off as soon as the dealer marks them sold or takes them down.

No. Tractor Monthly is a trading style of CW Asset Finance, a credit broker. We search a panel of more than 60 UK lenders and are paid commission by the lender when an agreement completes.